McFadden back to finish “lost season”

Raiders running back Darren McFadden was back at practice Wednesday after missing his sixth game of the season last week. A hamstring injury kept him out four games earlier and then a sore ankle the last two weeks.
He has only 365 yards on 103 carries, a 3.5 average, in what was supposed to be a big contract year.
McFadden, who has missed 19 of the Raiders’ last 39 games, was asked if he looked at this as a lost season.
“I feel that way but at the same time there’s nothing I can do about that,” he said. “That time is gone. I can only move forward.”
The sixth-year veteran now wants “to just go out here and finish strong, go out here and fight with my teammates,” he said. His first practice back went well, and McFadden is expected to play Sunday and back up new starter Rashad Jennings.
Fans have been brutally honest with him about their feelings on his toughness on social media, and even sometimes when he makes community service stops.
“It’s kind of mixed emotions, half and half,” McFadden said of how fans greet him. “For me I’m going to be the same person regardless. I’m going to go out there and do what I’m supposed to do in the community, do what I’m supposed to do on the field.
“I can’t worry about what’s happened in the past. I can only deal with what’s in the future.”
McFadden has always remained positive, when he ran for 1,771 yards in 20 games in 2010-11 and when he ran for 3.3 yards a carry in a bad-fit offense last season.
“I know his work ethic and the things he does to get ready that the fans can’t see,” guard Khalif Barnes said. “He’s had a lot of bad luck and he always busts his butt to get back.
“The fans, media and radio shows get on him but he is thick skinned, even if it’s tough at times. He handles it better than anyone else in here would.”
McFadden is a free agent at the end of the season, and admits that he’s thought about how next week’s home against Denver could be his last in Oakland.
“I would love to be a Raider next year but I can only focus on the things that I can control,” McFadden said. “I have to let everybody else handle that.”